Connecting means for door latches



Jan. 8, 1952 '0. M. ROBINSON CONNECTING MEANS FOR DOOR LATCHES Filed Dec. 22, 1948 DAVID MROBJNSON Patented Jan. 8, 1952 CONNECTING MEANS FOR DOOR- LATCHES David M. Robinson, New Britain, Coma, assignor to The Stanley Works, New Britain, Conn a corporation of Connecticut Application December 22, 1948, Serial No. 66,698

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in connecting means for door latches and more particularly to a link assembly for connecting the latch and operating means used on a door.

Doors such as are commonly used in garages and other buildings, for example, must necessarily be provided in different widths and heights in order to enclose openings having various horizontal and vertical dimensions. Where such structures are provided with latches at the sides of the door, with operating means disposed substantially centrally of the door, for example, as well as on doors where latches are provided either at the top or the botttom of such a door and operating means for the latches are disposed at a position remote from said latches, it is necessary to connect such latches and operating means by an appropriate link assembly which has to be adjusted to a predetermined length in order to be accommodated to. the latches and operating means of doors of various widths.

Heretofore, various relatively unsatisfactory means have been used to connect a latch and an operating means on a door, such connecting means usually requiring added mechanical operations such, for example, as drilling suitably positioned holes in a link in order to provide a link of desired effective length, or forming loops in the ends of a flexible cable after the effective length has been determined.

It is an object of this invention to provide a link assembly for the purposes described above wherein a link member has means adjacent one end by which said end may be secured to either the latch or the operating means, and a connecting member which may be adjustably secured to the other end of said link and. also secured to the operating member or the latch.

It is another object of the present invention to provide securing means for connecting together said link and connecting member of the link assembly in such manner that after the link and connecting member have been secured so as to have a predetermined effective length, no additional operations are required other than to simply snip 0117 the unnecessary portion of one end of the link member.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide, between one end of the link and the connecting means, securing means which may be operated without the use of any tools and the connection established will be simplebut firm and durable.

Details of these objects and of the invention as well as other objects thereof are set forth the taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary, slightly perspective, detailed view illustrating a part of the link assembly comprising the main feature of the present invention.

It is to be understood that the present invention may be applied to numerous different types of doors such as the overhead type and including both the rigid panel, swing-up style, as well as the sectionalized roll-up style, as well as sliding type doors, folding doors, and those which are hinged at one side to a door jamb. Further, the link assembly comprising the present invention may be utilized to connect a door operating member and a latch, to be operated thereby at a position remote from said operating member, regardless of the locations of said latch and operating member relative to the door and each other.

For exemplary purposes only, a rigid panel, swing-up style overhead type door III has been illustrated in Fig. 1 to show one application in which the present invention may be employed. Door jamb plates l2 and I4 are usually secured to the inner surfaces of a door jamb when a rigid style door I0 is used. Said plates form an abutting surface for the door as well as means with which. the latches on the door may oo-act. Appropriate latches I6 and I8 are secured to the opposite sides of the door l0, these latches being best shown in detail in Fig. 2. They may be of any suitable type, the latches illustrated herein being merely exemplary. As illustrated, each latch comprises, a bracket 20 which is secured to the door., Formed on the bracket is an ear 22 to which a link 24 is pivotally connected. Latch dog 26 is also pivotally connected to link 24 by a suitable pin 28. Latch 26 also has an extension 30 provided with a suitable aperture 32 For purposes of the present description, however, the entire latch assembly just described may be considered a latch.

Operating means 34 is secured to the door at a position remote'from the latches l6 and I8.

said operating means comprising a pivoted handle 36 and a collar 38 fixed thereto. A pair of ears 40 and 42 are integral with said collar, each of said ears having a headed pin 44 attached thereto. Said ears are engageable with a stop pin 46 which is secured to the base plate 48 of the operating means, the pin 46 limiting the rotary movement of the handle 36.

The pins 44 of the operating means and the extensions 30 of the latches l6 and I8 are connected by a link assembly 50 comprising a link member 52 which, in the preferred embodiment,

consists of a flat strip of metal. It is to be unsaid end of the link member may be quickly and.

efiectively secured to one of the headed pins 44 by merely placing the enlarged part of the opening 54 over -the head of the pin and then moving the link member longitudinally away from the pin so that the shank of the pin resides in the smaller'end of the keyhole opening 54.

Adjustably secured to the opposite end of the link member 52 is a connecting member 56 which, in the preferred embodiment, comprises a looped, generally U-shaped wire member clearly shown in Figs. sand 4. The bight portion 58 of the connecting member 56 is disposed in the aperture 32 in the extension 30 of one of the latches IE or 18." This is accomplished by threading one end of the U-shaped connecting member 56 through the opening 32.

Link member 52* and connecting member 56 are secured together by adjustable securing means comprising, in the preferred embodiment, two rows of spaced notches 60 provided, respectively, in the opposed edges of the link mem ber 52, along the end portion thereof opposite that containing the keyhole opening 54. It will be noted from Figs. 2 and 4 particularly that the individual notches 60 at one edge of the strip are preferably disposed transversely opposite to individual notches 60 on the other edge of the link member 52. Connecting member 56 has its ends shaped by bending so that said ends cross each other, in plan view, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and. 4, and the ends are then bent to provide U-shaped portions62, the bights of which comprise detents respectively engageable with an opposed pair of notches 60 in opposite edges of the link member 52. The inherent resilience of the connecting member 56 will serve to maintainsaid detents within anypre-selected pair of notches 6B.

In view of the appreciable depth of the notches, a firm but readily separable and adjustable connection is thus made between the link member 52 and the connecting member 56, whereby when these members are so connected, the link assembly 50 will have a predetermined effective length which willbe determined by the distancebetween one of the headed pins 44 on the operating memberand the aperture 32 in one of the extensions. ,Each latch of this exemplary illustration also includes a compression spring 64 which, normally maintains the latch dog 26 in extendedor locked position,,as'shown in Figs. "1 and 2. Said spring 64 will thus serve to-maintain the link assembly 52 under tension which 4 shaped configuration of portions 62 of the connecting member '56, as well as the crossed arrangement of said end portions, plainly visible in Figs. 2 and 4, will define a channel within which the notched end of the link member 52 is disposed. This is due to the fact that one of the crossed end portions is disposed on one side of the connecting member 52 and the. other is disposed on the other side as is evident from the full line and broken line illustrations in Figs. 2 and 4 as well as the full line illustration in Fig. 3.

It will thus be seen that the ei Tective length of the link assembly 52 may be readily and efiectively varied by merely pressing together the two side portions of the connecting member 56, which will release the detents on the ends thereof from a pair of notches 61!, and the connecting member 56 may then be readily moved longitudinally of the link member 52 until the detents are opposite any other pro-selected or predetermined pair of opposed notches 60. The sides of the connecting member are then released to effect a new locking engagement of the detents of the connecting means with a selected pair of notches 60.

The link members 52, when manufactured, have a length which will suit them for all normal ranges of use required in various door installations. That is, the link member 52 will be long enough to be used in door installations requiring the normally greatest distance between a latch and its operating member. When a link assembly having a shorter length is required, the excess portion of the notched end may be quickly snipped off by tin shears or otherwise so that, under operating conditions, the assembled link member 52 and connecting member 56 appear substantially as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4.

It is to be understood that the detent and notch arrangement comprising securing means for the link member and connecting member is exemplary of a preferred embodiment of such securing means, variations of the basic principle exemplified thereby being possible within the spirit of the present invention. Also, while the present exemplary installation illustrated shows two link assemblies, it is to be understood that only a single link assembly may be required in certain installations which utilize only a single latch.

Thus, while the invention has been generally illustrated and described in its preferred embodiments and has included certain details, it should be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the precise details herein illustrated and described since the same may be carried out in other ways, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.v

I claim as my invention:

1. For use with a door having a latch means and an operating means spaced from said latch means, an adjustable link assembly constructed and arranged to connect said means and comprising in combination, a link attachable at one end to one of said means and having adjacent the other end thereof rows of opposed detentreceiving notches arranged longitudinally along opposed edges of said link, and a resilient U- shaped member adjustably secured to the other end of said link and attachable to said other means, said resilient member having a pair of opposed detents formed on the ends thereof and normally biased into engagement with a pair of said opposed detent receiving notches of said link,

whereby said link assembly may be adjusted to a predetermined effective length.

2. For use with a door having a latch means and an operating means spaced from said latch means, an adjustable link assembly constructed and arranged to connect said means and comprising in combination, a link attachable at one end to one of said means and having near the other end thereof a row of spaced notches along each of two opposed edges of said link, and a resilient U-shaped member adjustably secured to said other end of said link and attachable to said other means, said U-shaped member having its end portions bent to provide U-shaped portions of which the bights comprise a pair of opposed detents normally biased toward each other by said member into engagement with a pair of said opposed notches in said link, whereby said link assembly may be adjusted to a predetermined effective length.

3. For use with a door having a latch means and an operating means spaced from said latch means, an adjustable link assembly constructed and arranged to connect said means and comprising in combination, a fiat strip-like link attachable at one end to one of said means and having near the other end thereof a row of spaced notches along each of the edges of said link, and a resilient U-shaped member adjustably secured to said other end of said link and attachable to said other means, the end portions of said U-shaped member being bent to cross each other and the ends of said portions being bent further to provide opposed U-shaped portions of which the bights comprise a pair of opposed detents normally biased toward each other by said member into engagement with a pair of said opposed notches in said link, whereby said link assembly may be adjusted to a predetermined efiective length, said crossed end portions of said U-shaped member being disposed on opposite sides of said link and cooperating with the U-shaped portions of said end portions to define a channel in which said link is disposed.

DAVID M. ROBINSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

